Juneau (Zenith Aircraft Co) STOL CH-701 N701BZ

Summary

On 18 August 2011 at about 22:30 local time, a Juneau (Zenith Aircraft Co) STOL CH-701 registered N701BZ, operated by Juneau TIM W, was involved in an accident near Snohomish, Washington, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 August 2011 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Snohomish, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Snohomish Private Airstrip (PVT)

Coordinates

48.0328, -122.0078

Aircraft

Juneau (Zenith Aircraft Co) STOL CH-701

Registration

N701BZ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Juneau TIM W

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Snohomish

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR11LA405

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a stall and a hard landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The sport pilot reported that he was relocating the experimental amateur-built airplane to his short home airstrip, which was bordered by trees, grapevines, and a pond. He performed three precautionary approaches to the runway in order to assess the wind conditions, and on the final approach elected to land. The airplane made contact with the runway short of his intended touchdown point; it landed hard and bounced, collapsing the nose landing gear. He said he flared the airplane early, prior to touchdown, and it subsequently stalled about 5 feet above the ground. The pilot was not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and left wing spar during the accident sequence. The accident flight was the first time he had landed at the airstrip.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.